Labour to slash affordable housing requirements in London and cut cash for communities

After days of rumour and leaked memos, a recently released joint paper from the Government and London Mayor confirmed that the social housing requirements to fast-track schemes for developers will fall from 35% to 20%; and the cash required from developers to improve local areas will be halved.

Under the new plan, just one in eight homes need to be social housing for schemes to be fast-tracked, with the rest able to be so-called “affordable”, which often are still far too expensive for local people to rent or buy.

Among other reforms, the plan also sees a power grab from the Mayor of London who will now be able to overturn local housing decisions of schemes over 50 homes.

This all comes as Labour’s housing crisis reaches new highs, with affordable housing delivery falling off a cliff in recent times. A number of sites in Islington have already been put on hold.

The new plans will also see Community Infrastructure Levy — the cash that developers must hand over to councils to fund projects like parks, sustainable transport, and safety measures — halved.

Reports also suggest that this plan was drawn up behind closed doors between the Government and the big developers with no input from local government voices.

Commenting, Islington Liberal Democrat campaigner and former Council Leader Terry Stacy said:  

"Labour are backing a deal that lets developers get away with just 20% affordable housing while slashing the infrastructure money councils rely on. Islington residents need real affordable homes and investment in schools, health and transport — not more luxury flats they can’t afford and less funding.

We’ve already seen how weak Labour councils have been towards developers, letting them get away with offensively low affordable provision. Now we're seeing that baked into policy from the very top of the Labour Party in Government. 

Whilst Labour cozy up to developers, Liberal Democrats will keep demanding that local residents who are being priced out of Islington are put first.”